Hamilton leads Ricciardo in mistake-ridden FP2 in Spain

Lewis Hamilton kept Mercedes at the top of the Formula 1 timesheets in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, finishing 0.133 seconds clear of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. 

Hamilton’s best time - a 1m18.259s - was 0.1s slower than teammate Valtteri Bottas’ FP1-leading lap and was set on Pirelli’s Soft tyre after the championship leader ran wide during his qualifying simulation run on the Supersoft compound. 

The Briton was one of a number of drivers who made mistakes on their flying efforts on Pirelli’s softest available tyre at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, having taken a trip through the Turn 7 gravel. 

Ricciardo’s best lap was also set on Softs after he too ran wide at Turn 7, with Max Verstappen also making a mistake at the same corner as he ended the 90-minute session with the third-fastest time, a further 0.1s back from his Red Bull teammate.  

Sebastian Vettel was fourth after aborting his Supersoft flying effort, having encountered a slow-moving Force India of Esteban Ocon on the short run to Turn 15, though the German had found no improvement in the first two sectors. 

Morning pacesetter Bottas sat second early on with an impressive lap on Mediums, and was the only driver out of the leading runners to find improvement on his Supersoft run.

A mistake in the final sector left him fifth ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, who finished sixth after being left garage-bound for the final 30 minutes of the session after reporting an issue with his power unit, having slowed after a puff of smoke emerged from the rear of his car.

There was a strong showing from Haas as Romain Grosjean recovered from an early spin into the gravel to post the seventh fastest time, less than a tenth quicker than teammate Kevin Magnussen. 

Stoffel Vandoorne was nearly 1.5s adrift in ninth place for McLaren, ahead of Sergio Perez, who rounded out the top 10, having pipped Force India teammate Ocon by just 0.062s. The Mexican came to a halt in the closing stages with a loose wheel following a pitstop. 

Home-favourite Fernando Alonso was unable to replicate his top 10 showing from FP1 as he ended up a low-key 12th as McLaren continued to run the updated aerodynamic package it introduced in Barcelona. 

Behind Alonso came the leading Renault of Nico Hulkenberg, with Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and Sauber duo Marcus Ericsson and Charles Leclerc separating the German from teammate Carlos Sainz, who finished a low-key Friday for Renault in 17th. 

Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley ended the session 18th-fastest, while the Williams duo ended a disappointing day once again propping up the timesheets in 19th and 20th. 

On this occasion it was Canadian Lance Stroll who finished as the Grove-based outfit’s fastest driver, ahead of the returning Sergey Sirotkin, who sat out of FP1 as Robert Kubica made his first F1 race weekend since the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.